The Snyderville Planning Commission is considering changes to their planning code, which could significantly increase their regulations on accessory buildings. After a discussion this week, the Planning Commission will be going soon to a public hearing.
The Chairwoman for the Snyderville Commission, Malena Stevens, said they’ve had several applications in recent years for accessory buildings whose size and scale could affect the character of their neighborhoods.
She said they want to take a global and proactive approach to the issue.
“Looking at a lot of these areas, we’re trying to determine, okay, will we have these beautiful pristine areas that people moved to so they can have some open space,” Stevens explained. “If everyone in those neighborhoods are allowed to build nine accessory buildings on their property, then no longer is that neighborhood having the same character, the same value, the same open vistas as previously.”
During the discussion, the planners did hear briefly from an audience member, Debby Scoggan, a long-time activist in the Old Ranch Road area.
Scoggan said she thinks the residents in the Basin, who have put up their money to preserve open space, will support an effort to regulate accessory structures.
“In my neighborhood, my neighbor has three acres, and there’s nine—there’s the huge house and eight outbuildings,” Scoggan continued. “Three acres. Non-working farm. I think they have a goat and some chickens, but believe me, non-working farm. And I wonder if there could be something in addition to what you’re considering—working farm vs. non-working farms, because you do need to store your John Deere, y’know vs. storing your kids—and you have this discussion about what is in those buildings. So, in this particular one that I cited, she’s got the mother-in-law apartment. She’s got a big barn with junk in it, I’ve seen it, y’know whatever you want to call junk, the sheds, the this, the that—they’re just there.”
